Crosby has 4 points, Penguins score 7 in win against Flyers

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists, and the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the Philadelphia Flyers for a 7-6 win at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Crosby has 129 points (55 goals, 74 assists) in 87 career games against Philadelphia, the most by any player against the Flyers in NHL history. It was his second four-point game of the season and first since getting three goals and an assist against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 14.

“Obviously, it's a huge rivalry,” Crosby said. “It's been that way long before I started playing here. But I think just the way they play, they're a gritty team. They're physical, especially this group. They keep coming, give them credit.

“It would have been easy to step back a little bit, and they didn't. They just kept coming and I thought it was a great response a few different times from us.”

Bryan Rust had two goals and an assist before leaving midway through the third period with an upper-body injury, Rickard Rakell and Kris Letang each had a goal and an assist, and Drew O'Connor scored in his third straight game for the Penguins (26-21-8), who have won two in a row. Marcus Pettersson had two assists, and Tristan Jarry made 15 saves.

Tyson Foerster and Scott Laughton each had two goals and an assist, and Travis Sanheimhad a goal and an assist for the Flyers (30-22-7), who have lost two straight and four of five, including 2-1 to the New York Rangers on Saturday. Cal Petersen made 25 saves.

"They played free, they played hard,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “To come back like that as many times as we did, we weren't playing safe. We were playing. I give our team a lot of credit for their resiliency to keep on coming back."

O’Connor gave Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead at 6:41 of the third period with a short-handed goal, scoring from a sharp angle with a one-timer set up by Evgeni Malkin.

Rakell extended it to 6-4 at 8:38, taking a one-handed pass from Crosby behind the net and burying a wrist shot at the left post.

"For me, the most encouraging part was just the resilience of the group going out in the third period and just having the ability to put [late in the second period] behind them and being forward thinking and just competing in that third period," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "To me, that's just a real encouraging aspect of tonight's win."

Cam York cut it to 6-5 on a snap shot at 10:10.

Letang responded again for Pittsburgh, scoring with a slap shot through traffic to make it 7-5 at 15:13, but Foerster pulled it to 7-6 on a power play at 17:57.

“You want to start building something solid because it's just going to get harder and harder,” Letang said. “If you [get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs], it's going to be even harder. So, you have to create a solid identity for your team, and right now is the time to do it.”

Sanheim put Philadelphia ahead 1-0 at 2:11 of the first period, deflecting a shot from Laughton.

Crosby tied it 1-1 at 9:38 with his 32nd goal of the season, a wrist shot from just outside of the crease off a rebound.

Rust gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 17:15, redirecting a shot from Pettersson.

Foerster tied it 2-2 with a wrist shot around Jarry’s left pad 55 seconds into the second period.

Rust put Pittsburgh back in front 3-2 at 11:15, scoring with a snap shot from the high slot on the power play. He has six goals in his past seven games.

Emil Bemstrom, who was making his Penguins debut, extended it to 4-2 at 13:38 with a wrist shot that clipped Petersen’s glove on the power play. Bemstrom was acquired in a trade with the Blue Jackets on Thursday.

Sanheim cut it to 4-3 at 16:33 with a one-timer off a face-off win.

“It's a tough one,” Sanheim said. “Score six, you hope you win most nights. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times. They're a good team. They capitalized on their chances and made us pay."

Laughton scored short-handed following a wraparound attempt from Noah Cates to tie it 4-4 at 17:36. He has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) during a seven-game point streak.

“You're chasing it. You're trying to get back,” Laughton said. “We were close. Played until the last minute there, but it's not good enough at this time of year. Guys know it. We have to be better.”

NOTES: Flyers forward Travis Konecny missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. He leads Philadelphia with 54 points (27 goals, 27 assists) in 57 games. ... Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale left at 11:54 of the second period after taking a hit from Pittsburgh forward Jansen Harkins. Tortorella did not have an update.